Looking in From the Outside

Looking in From the Outside

POSTED: June 24th, 2016POSTED IN:Summer 2016,

By: Daniel Theodoro, MD, MSCI

“Get involved…Advocacy…Steven J. Stack, an emergency medicine physician, is now president of the AMA!” I’ve always been curious about how these things happen and really what do they mean? I hear my active MOCEP colleagues or national policy pundits like Kevin Klauer bubbling with exuberance about SGR fixes, PQRS, MIPS, CHIPS and MACRA. Personally it sounds like a waitress shouting out orders at a diner! How it relates to my caring for the nosebleed in room 28 is less clear.

When I was a resident I couldn’t stand nosebleeds. I never understood why (there are far worse things in EM like (insert your least favorite here)) until I had a moment of truth. I remember disliking the care of epistaxis until I realized I didn’t dislike it, but rather feared it. If I couldn’t stop a little nosebleed what could I do against a larger ruptured artery? The antidote, I decided, was to become fully engaged in handling these cases. Now, I don’t just grab the otoscope and Kleenex I go “all in.” Epistaxis tray, nasal suction, nasal forceps, face shield, gown and that magical headlamp that seemingly taunts the smallest oozing vessel into succumbing to the acid burn from my silver nitrate stick. Should that fail I have my trusty side winder rhino rocket at the ready to go “one and done.” You have to admit it kind of gets you into it!

And so following the umpteenth plea from our leaders to engage and become involved with MOCEP, I decided I’d try a similar strategy as I did with epistaxis. Annoyed at feeling annoyed by overtures from our respected leaders, I realized much of my displeasure was related to my lack of knowledge and feelings of powerlessness from not knowing what MOCEP does for me at room 28.

My goal for this column was to examine what it’s like going “all in” with MOCEP? I’ll start by telling you I am now on a committee: “outreach.” My first goal was to write a column introducing my road trip. Along the way I’ll leave some tidbits of experience behind for the grizzled veteran and energetic youth. My wife is a journalist. All stories must contain the who, what, where, when and why. Today I’ll leave you all with information on the “when.” Here are some key MOCEP and legislative dates to keep an eye out on for what’s to come. All meetings are open to all members.